"JOAN ELLIS: THE PAULINE KAEL OF THE INTERNET" —Newsweek

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This is a tough one. On one hand, The Shape of Water offers us hatred, cruelty, nudity, violence, murder, and beatings. On the other, it offers a tender love story between two afflicted people who lose themselves in a beautiful romance. The time is the Cold War. The place is a dark, decrepit Baltimore building that is a lab space for creating a creature that will become a weapon against the Russians.

Close friends Elisa (Sally Hawkins) and Zelda (Octavia Spencer) have janitorial work passes to clean the building without oversight. Eliza’s sharp intelligence allows her to pick up on the clues left behind by the men who are working on the secret project.

The studio puts it this way: “At a top secret research facility in the 1950s, a lonely janitor forms a unique relationship with an amphibious creature that is being held in captivity.” True enough, though I would add “in deepest covert Cold War secrecy” in order to explain the dark gloom that surrounds their relationship. The amphibious creature (Doug Jones) has been created for deep cover use by U.S. Intelligence.

We endure the comings and goings of brutal intelligence agents whose presence is lightened only by Dr. Hoffstetler (Michael Stuhlbarg), a man who has a formal, abiding respect for the creature. His American colleague is played by Michael Shannon who is convincing as a government agent wrapped in physical brutality – especially when carrying an electric prod.

When Elisa enlists the support of her lonely upstairs neighbor, Giles (Richard Jenkins), this sweet, bumbling fellow agrees to help her save the sea creature she now loves. The always fine Octavia Spencer creates Zelda, the loyal, wise friend who will stand by Eliza through the nightmare that lies ahead. She understands the gestures and signals of her silent friend.

Elisa is a lovely young woman who can’t speak a word. She has walked silently through life with only the friendship of Zelda and Giles, that nice guy across the hall. In this role, Sally Hawkins utters not a word for two hours but tells us everything through the subtlety of her facial expressions and the language of her hands and eyes. Here’s a salute to Hawkins for making Elisa the woman who turns the movie – against all odds – into a sweet fable. After you are thoroughly on Eliza’s side, look forward to one of the most lovely dream sequences ever to grace the screen.

Throughout this strange and riveting story, one question rumbles in our heads: who thought this up? Who has the brain that could imagine these odd pieces and fit them together? If an ordinary person tried to write and film this story, rejection would surely follow. But Guillermo del Toro is not an ordinary person. He and the extraordinary Sally Hawkins, have turned his odd idea into a stunning fable. It is marred only by the barbarism of the ludicrous American Intelligence agents. The Academy overlooked that and gave this film 13 Oscar nominations.

Film Critic: JOAN ELLIS
Film Title : The Shape of Water
Word Count: 499
Running Time: 2:03
Rating: R
Date: 4 February 2018

After opening to middling reviews, The Greatest Showman has become one of the surprise hits of the season and no one seems to know why. On one level, it is a chronicle of the rise of P.T. Barnum from a young unemployed man to creator of what Americans remember as The Greatest Show on Earth. On another, it tells the tale of the circus that toured the country by train for spectators who could never get to New York. Why do audiences love the movie after so many critics dismissed it?

Think about what Barnum did that was celebrated all those decades ago. The core of his early circus was known as his freak show – a group of disfigured humans to be stared at by audiences. The elephants that eventually opened his show as it grew are now protected. Carrying the animals and performers cross country by train is now considered cruel. Gradual but enormous changes in our culture began to demand more respect for both people and animals.

What people find in this movie is an old-fashioned movie musical that is magical in many ways. Both the acting and the score lift audiences into the story for two hours of pure pleasure as we revisit the spectacle. The movie sizzles on the performances of its actors.

Those formerly known as “the freaks” are brought to life by fine actors who let us get to know them as unique people rather than as a side show. We root for Zac Efron’s Phillip Carlyle as he grows from supporting pal to real strength. We cheer quietly for P.T.’s wife Charity (Michelle Williams) as she leaves her affluent family for life with an unemployed man with a dream. We find real joy as the gang known as freaks become a real force in the film. And Hugh Jackman builds and sustains the fun with his singing, dancing, and determination. He creates the infectious myth that Barnum began.

The music, dancing, and singing are unfailingly terrific and I, for one, was very glad to be sitting there with a sentimental tear in my eye. Thank you, Benjamin Pasek and Justin Paul for the music that is the heart of the movie and never dims. It is old fashioned in the best of ways as it carries all of us back to another time.

On a personal note, while at college I watched the Ringling Bros. circus train cross the Hudson River while marveling at the giraffes with their long necks sticking straight up from the open car. When I decided after set up to crawl under the side of the tent for fun, I came up under the belly of an enormous elephant in a long line of them and scurried through his hooves with the hope he wouldn’t lift one to smash me. The fun and the charm of this new movie is the mix of Hugh Jackman and the music. Let yourself go for two hours. It’s carnival time.